Vivo X60 has been announced – it’s the next flagship smartphone from the popular Chinese phone maker, with some premium-looking specs and features.
This new Vivo phone was launched at an event in the company’s home country on December 29 – it seems that, for now, this was a launch only in China, and we are awaiting a worldwide launch date for Vivo X60.
There are technically three Vivo X60 phones – the ‘standard’ model and a Pro, which were presented at the December 29 event, and the Vivo X60 Pro Plus, which is expected to have its own event in late January 2021.
We have collected all the information about Vivo X60 so that you know how this smartphone compares to its rivals, while we await a complete global launch.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Vivo’s new flagship phone line
- When do you leave? Now in China, then elsewhere
- How much will it cost? Probably an intermediate price
Vivo X60 price and release date
Vivo X60 and X60 Pro will go on sale on January 8 in China, but we are still waiting for a global launch. This could happen in early 2021, although there is no guarantee that it will.
In terms of price, we know how much phones cost in China and we can provide approximate conversions to international prices, but given prices they can often be quite different in China compared to the rest of the world, consider them with a pinch of salt.
The Vivo X60 comes in three versions: there is one with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage per CNY 3,498 (about $ 540, £ 400, AU $ 700), an 8GB / 256 GB model for CNY 3798 (about of $ 580, £ 430, AU $ 760) and finally, a 12GB / 256GB version for CNY 3,998 (about $ 610, £ 450, AU $ 780).
There is only one Vivo X60 Pro model, with memory equal to that of the most expensive standard version, and costs CNY 4,498 (about US $ 690, £ 510, AU $ 910).
Design and display
The Vivo X60 looks a lot like the Vivo X51, its predecessor, particularly at the rear with an almost identical rectangular camera relief dominated by the large main snapper. Vivo X60 Pro is slightly different in this respect, with an extra rear lens extending the block.
The main difference of the design is in the front, since the front camera, which is a ‘perforated’ cutout in the front screen, is not in the upper left corner of the screen, but in the upper center.
Vivo claims that the X60 is the thinnest 5G phone ever, at least at the time of launch, with a body only 7.36 mm thick. This is actually quite fine.
The Vivo X60 comes in three colors: black, white and a two-tone blue, and the Vivo X60 Pro is available in all those shades except white.
The screen here is 6.56 inches wide and uses AMOLED technology like many high-end devices. We don’t know the resolution yet, but it’s probably FHD +. It also has a refresh rate of 120Hz.
Cameras
The Vivo X60 has three rear cameras: a 48MP f / 1.48 main, 13MP ultra-wide and 13MP ‘portrait’ (2x zoom). The X60 Pro has the same with an additional 8MP periscope snapper with 5x optical zoom.
The phone lenses were made in partnership with Zeiss, a photography company that also works with Nokia on smartphone cameras.
The main camera has an exclusive feature for smartphones – well, one that is exclusive for Vivo phones, at least – that has a built-in gimbal for image stabilization. We saw this first on Vivo X51 and the X60 uses a second generation version of the feature and allows the sensor to physically move to neutralize the handshake when you take a photo or video.
There are many modes of videography here, as Vivo was keen to show at the launch of the X60. There is a 21: 9 mode for shooting in that cinematic aspect ratio, as well as a ‘Film texture filter’ that is likely to reproduce the appearance of the anamorphic lenses used in film recording. There is also a stereo audio caption and recording mode.
Specifications and performance
The Vivo X60 chipset was made by Samsung, as the standard and Pro models use the Exynos 1080 chipset. We haven’t seen this chipset in use before, so we don’t know how powerful it is, but rumors suggest it’s almost as responsive as the Snapdragon. 888, a high-end processor from Qualcomm, one of the most prolific chipset manufacturers.
The chipset allows for 5G connectivity, so both phones use the next generation of mobile network.
One of the biggest new announcements at the launch of Vivo X60 was OriginOS, an entirely new operating system for these and future Vivo phones. The company’s previous devices used FunTouchOS, but OriginOS is new to the company.
OriginOS seems to have a really customizable home screen, as the demo showed normal apps being turned into widgets and spread across several blocks in the home page grid.
Battery life
The Vivo X60 has a 4,300mAh battery, but that drops to 4,200mAh for the Pro model.
When we put the phones to the test, we will see how long these power packs last, but given the capacity and the size of the screen, we would estimate approximately one day each.
There is a 33 W wired charge for both models and it doesn’t look like wireless charging is a thing here.